Chapter 188
Because I don’t want to
That wasn’t even the plot of the current version anymore! The version 0 data pack was titled “Shadow of Avalon,” and it was also the first version where the Ouroboros Ring ritual appeared. The descent of the Fallen Heavenly Envoy occurred outside the main storyline. To be precise, it was a story that happened in the preview trailer for version 0. However, the Shadow Heavenly Envoy of Avalon descended only after the main BOSS of version 0—that is, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy who descended upon Star Antimony—was defeated.
The “certain person” who was once Star Antimony’s puppet, now independent and who summoned the Shadow Heavenly Envoy, was Isabel (Doll). This was the core of the Star Antimony Kingdom’s conspiracy and the source of their confidence in directly attacking Avalon. They created a replica of Princess Isabel, a puppet loyal to Star Antimony, using the crystallization of their most advanced technology—the techniques of Golemology, Alchemy, Ritual Studies, and Necromancy. It even possessed independent consciousness, capable of acting autonomously without receiving orders. Except for the joints hidden beneath its clothes, it looked identical to Princess Isabel from the outside.
Of course, its personality was vastly different from Princess Isabel’s. And because its intelligence was low in autonomous mode, as long as the ministers weren’t foolish, it was easy to see that it was just a puppet. But having one puppet as a decoy was enough. On the surface, Avalon was still controlled by the royal bloodline. Even if she wasn’t on the Path of Authority, it was better than nothing. The ministers who betrayed Avalon and defected to Star Antimony would not be blamed. The hatred of the Avalonian people would not be entirely focused on the Star Antimonium people. People would simply assume that Avalon had lost once and thus signed a contract selling its interests. They wouldn’t suspect that their new queen was merely a puppet of the Star Antimonium people.
It was precisely because Isabel became famous in version 0 by defeating the Fallen Heavenly Envoy with the support and help of the Church that people began to question—if Isabel defeated the Fallen Heavenly Envoy, then who was their queen?
It wasn’t until version 2’s plot that the puppet, no longer controlled by Star Antimony, was forced to learn about Isabel’s past. Eventually, the puppet gradually awakened its own heart—or rather, it gradually lost control. She genuinely began to believe she was Isabel. Eivass forgot the plot in between. But in version 4, the doll, the puppet queen, learned of the existence of “Shadow of Avalon” and ultimately chose to sacrifice her younger brother, John, as Isabel, attempting to summon Ancestor Lancelot I to protect Avalon.
However, the summoning failed. The summoning was bound to fail. Because the ritual Merlin set up before becoming an Apostle had already been modified by Lancelot’s adoptive mother and Merlin’s ex-girlfriend—Lady of the Lake Viviane of the Path of Love. After completing her great deed as a mother, Viviane also successfully became an Apostle. But she was not Hengwo’s Apostle, but an Apostle of the Shadow Heavenly Envoy. According to the rules of the Path of Love, superiors and subordinates were all loved. So she could be considered the Shadow Heavenly Envoy’s daughter or lover, and Lancelot would then be the Shadow Heavenly Envoy’s grandson—this was also why he went to train in the Shadow Realm and did not become an Apostle of the Silver Crown Dragon.
Viviane’s original intention was probably to prevent Lancelot’s rebirth. Because everyone knew that once Lancelot was reborn and died again, he would leave the Shadow Realm forever and become an Apostle of the Silver Crown Dragon. But if his resurrection failed, he would remain there forever as a warrior of the Shadow Realm. Although Lancelot treated her poorly, Viviane still loved him unilaterally. As an adoptive mother, a mentor, and also as a lover. Transcendents of the Path of Love always found it difficult to control their desires. They would mix various desires together and misinterpret them.
The reason Lancelot’s] attitude towards her was poor after he came of age was also simple—Viviane did not raise Lancelot as an orphan. Rather, after seeing the infant Lancelot, she fell in love with him and directly stole him from his parents in his swaddling clothes.
But perhaps because the Ring Heavenly Envoy had interfered, or perhaps by pure coincidence, or possibly the inspiration for the “Ouroboros Ring” ritual was this very ritual… In any case, after being modified by Viviane, this ritual coincidentally became the “Ouroboros Ring.” And when she modified this ritual, the Ring Heavenly Envoy had not yet passed it down to humans. Lancelot’s still-living body happened
to become the “living sacrifice” required by the Ouroboros Ring ritual, and his close familial connection with the Shadow Heavenly Envoy became the foundation of the ritual. The “seed” of the ritual was the nascent and pure desire within the puppet queen’s heart. The desire to live as a human, as “Isabelle Du Lac”—The result was that the ritual absorbed John’s blood, the puppet queen’s heart, and Lancelot’s body, becoming a top-tier “Ouroboros Ring” ritual, directly dragging the
Shadow Heavenly Envoy down. — Honestly, the Shadow Heavenly Envoy must have been very confused. Because there was no way a Heavenly Envoy would want to be dragged down by the Ouroboros Ring—even if they could be reborn in the Dream Realm after being killed, death in the Material Realm meant they would no longer be Heavenly Envoys after rebirth. Although Phantom Demons would be reborn after death, their “equipment” would be dropped. Ordinary Phantom Demons didn’t have much equipment, but Heavenly Envoys possessed authority… which were their Heavenly Envoy Fragments. Death in the Dream Realm meant resurrection with full HP, as long as the killer wasn’t someone who could absorb their fragments. But death in the Material Realm meant that part of the fragment would directly fall into the Void.
It was the disintegration of this part of the authority, the vacated power nodes, that allowed the transcendents on this Path to break through their limits and advance further. It was only after the Shadow Heavenly Envoy died once in the Material Realm that the rare power of shadow was finally unlocked. Now, without the puppet queen, Eivass couldn’t be sure if the Shadow Heavenly Envoy would successfully descend. But he was certain that Viviane had definitely modified the ritual. This meant that whoever descended would not be Lancelot under any circumstances. Perhaps it would be Viviane, or perhaps still the Shadow Heavenly Envoy, or ideally his former brothers, the other knights who became Apostles of the Silver Crown Dragon. But it definitely wouldn’t be Lancelot.
But another problem arose. That was, Eivass couldn’t stop the queen from performing this ritual. —Twenty members of the royal family were already dead. The ritual was only one step away from completion. And then an outsider, who had never heard of this ritual before, suddenly pops out and says, “There’s something wrong with this ritual, stop it immediately”? Needless to say, he wouldn’t be able to persuade them. Even if they knew there was a problem, the old lady would definitely try it. Because without Lancelot’s protection, Avalon would have a hard time getting through the transition period—and indeed, without Lancelot, Avalon was directly swept away by Star Antimony’s F2A push.
However, the World Tier was simply too low right now. There were very few people who could even touch the upper limit. To change all of this, they would have to wait for the major event of version 0… That was when the leveling speed would suddenly increase. If they really pulled the Shadow Heavenly Envoy down now, it would be all over—at this time, the entire world couldn’t even assemble a single Sixth Tier team. The Demon Avatars of the Rose Cross Society were all stuck at the Fifth Tier limit. How could they possibly defeat a descending Heavenly Envoy below the Sixth Tier… Without sufficient priority, they couldn’t even break through their defenses. That would be Avalon dragging the whole world down with it to its doom.
…So, perhaps it was better to reconsider. Was it possible to fix this ritual? It wasn’t impossible. If Merlin were summoned and told that his ritual had
been modified by Viviane… could he find a way to modify it back? —It was like a one-time program written when he resigned over four hundred years ago, with no comments because it was meant to be used only once. Now this program was about to run, and a bug had appeared. Hopefully, he could return to the company now to fix it. …Eivass thought about it and felt that the hope wasn’t very high. The best possible outcome would be to directly destroy the ritual. That wouldn’t be difficult, as the foundation of the ritual was Lancelot’s body.
Although Eivass couldn’t understand such a complex ritual at the Apostle level… if the problem was to be solved fundamentally, all it would take was killing Lancelot. Lancelot’s body was the foundation of the ritual; once he died, the ritual would automatically shut down. After all, it was just a soulless husk. It was equivalent to a Sixth Tier expert falling into a coma that couldn’t be awakened. Killing him would be quite simple. But if that were the case, there would be no turning back. He would have to prepare other means to fight against Star Antimony. However, Her Majesty the Queen had basically not considered that.
This was ultimately not Avalon’s plan, but a flexible countermeasure against the conspiracy of Star Antimony and the Iris Flower. Being able to devise a counterattack under completely passive circumstances, surrounded by enemies, with internal and external troubles, was already admirable. And now, with less than a year left, Eivass demanded a complete redo… Tsk, it was a bit toothache-inducing. Eivass suddenly felt that knowing too much wasn’t necessarily a good thing. The result was that no matter what he did, it seemed to lead to unexpected situations. …Logically speaking, he should just let the story unfold as it is. Let Avalon fall and they flee, and eventually, the problem should be resolved… Let Avalon break and then rise, reborn in fire.
But could he do that? Eivass immediately rejected the idea. There was no complicated reason. —Because I don’t want to.
Chapter 2, will be back after a quick meal!
